Seems appropriate that a season of "30 Rock" that was dominated -- and too often overwhelmed -- by guest stars would conclude with an episode featuring not only more Alan Alda, but an all-star cast of musicians (NBC has a list here, which includes a few odd omissions, like Clay Aiken) performing a tribute song for Alda's character.

Fortunately, Sheryl Crow and company didn't dominate "Kidney Now!" to the point where the episode didn't work. It wasn't a classic, but it was funny enough -- which, I suppose, also makes it an appropriate finale for this uneven season.

Alda and Alec Baldwin continue to be a great team. It was great to see a normal, outside person having to deal with Dr. Spaceman's special brand of obliviousness, and I love that Alda was willing to deliver that meta joke about the "M*A*S*H" series finale, where Milton complained to Tracy, "A guy crying about a chicken and a baby? I thought this was a comedy show!"

Even better, though, was the sequence of Liz on "The Vontella Show" turning into the real version of Jenna's relationship guru character. Where the actual catchphrase from "TGS" is deliberately lame (and NBC's real-life attempts to make the catchphrase happen are even lamer), hearing Liz fire off intuitive explanations for why these women should dump their boyfriends ("You have sexually transmitted crazy-mouth" or "Sir, have you ever kissed a gentleman?"), followed by her simply shouting "Dealbreaker," was hilarious, and a fine demonstration of how much confidence Tina Fey has gained as an actress over the years.

The Tracy subplot with his honorary high school diploma didn't have a strong enough payoff, but at least it featured a number of suitably weird moments, like Tracy and the entourage somehow being able to hear Kenneth's voiceover about college, or Kenneth talking about his "science class," which was all Bible stories. Again, like much of the season as a whole, it didn't entirely work, but was funny enough to be worthwhile.

Some other thoughts:

• Not only are Kenneth and Clay Aiken cousins, but Liz went to elementary school with Sheryl Crow, who remembers her as a loser.

• Speaking of meta, I was intrigued by the frequent references to "TGS" having only two more years left in it, tops. "30 Rock" is considered one of NBC's prestige shows, but the ratings have never been that great, and I could certainly see a scenario where NBC, Fey and Baldwin all decide that five years (or even four) are enough.

• Is this the first Jenna/Mickey Rourke joke? I have a feeling we've heard references before to them trying to date.

• I like that Liz is so uncouth that her idea of a fancy, all-expenses-paid lunch is to find a "sit-down Quizno's."

46 comments:

You're probably right that as a whole, the episode wasn't that great. However, a few of the jokes had me rolling. I do wish the payoff was higher with the song. I really felt that it just brought the entire show to a bad close. Unlike Night Train to Georgia, there really wasn't a payoff to the musical number. Still, one of my favorite episodes of the year.

One of the lines that cracked me up was Tracy's line about not being able to get to the graduation without someone showing him the way -- the guy at the Sunoco station.

I'm laughing just typing that.

Let me add my thanks for the MASH reference. I knew there had to be some kind of callback there, but couldn't remember what it was. I was only 12 when I saw the MASH finale, and probably haven't seen it since it aired.

I loved the joy Alan Alda portrayed as Milton and Jack played catch. Being 30 Rock, I was expecting an errant throw and something breaking, or something zany, but was pleasantly surprised when they went to break, and it was simply a nice moment between dad and son, and Alda/Milton was happy as can be.

For me, 30 Rock episodes always provide at least a half dozen or so moments that either make me laugh out loud -- which I don't often do at sitcoms -- or at least have me a bit in awe at the depth of the one liner, or meta joke that is used, and that's often good enough for me.

Was it one of their best epiosdes, or best seasons, probably not...but each episode puts me in a better mood than I was in when I started it.

The flashback to Tracy's bouts of crying - with the last one being the one that had happened just ten seconds prior - had me in stitches. And Tracy's speech: "Each and every one of you will be President of the United States!!"

I, too, wondered about the meta-ness of the the "two more years, tops" comment. It really wouldn't surprise me if Fey decides to go out while still on top, rather than dragging it out for years and years. More shows should do that, honestly.

And I agree with bsangs, that the spoken parts of the song were the funniest parts. Although I did appreciate the dig at the Lonely Island. Those guys are so ready to be mocked.

Overall, I found this a pretty decent season finale, even if the season itself was, like you've said, somewhat uneven.

It's interesting how they've managed to draw from the well of actual TV writers' lives again... Liz becoming a relationship counselor based on her catchphrase was exactly like when the guy who wrote "He's just not that into you" for "Sex and the City" ended up with a relationship book and a daytime talk show.

I seem to have been more disappointed by the finale than most here. Alan, you've been complaining all season that the shows haven't wrapped up in a satisfying way like they have in the past, and I thought this was the worst offender of that. There was no real payoff to Liz "getting hers" beyond that brief scene where Pete and Tracy yell at her, which she apparently just shrugged off. And though they had the song there was no real resolution on the kidney either. Not to mention I would have liked a quick scene of Tracy and the others at college. After the genius that was Cooter last year, I felt horribly let down by this finale.

Even though the Tracy subplot didn't deliver on its punchline, I still couldn't stop laughing at the fact that Tracy went to Frank Lucas High School... or the fact that a high school in New York was named for a notorious gangster.

I assumed that the Liz storyline and the Greene/Donaghy storyline would continue next year. It would make sense, really, as the meta-joke involving "getting hers" has a lot of potential, and Alda's kidney storyline should be good for at least a few more episodes (before Grizz turns out to be a match). If the next season begins with a reset I'll be very annoyed.

I guess I'm just weird, but my definition of a good sitcom is that it makes me laugh out loud repeatedly. This show does that every week. I leave the whole 'story has to make sense and resolve itself nicely' stuff for dramas.

"There was no real payoff to Liz "getting hers" beyond that brief scene where Pete and Tracy yell at her... "

i just saw the extras from the season 2 DVD. accroding to tina fey, alot of jack's personality comes from lorne micheals, encouraging people to be successful, to have the material trappings of success (there was a joke about owning your own house)...

also, alot of the liz's motivation comes from tina's paranoia about whats gonna happen to her after the show ends....

this also comes from the DVD extra...

its interesting how these motivations are taken seriously by the writers, mined for comedy, and never watered down for PC purposes... cool!

Another MASH connection: one of Jack's three possible fathers was played by Stuart Margolin, who was a bit player on MASH (and was also Angel on The Rockford Files). The third possible father could also have been from MASH (he was Korean, after all), but I didn't recognize him.

The "Dealbreaker" character seems like Patti Stanger from "Millionaire Matchmaker"-- the wig/bangs especially. She's full of firm rules for dating and courtship, but there was no corporate synergy to have her make an appearance. Lost opportunity!

A part that I loved that no one has mentioned is when Clay Aiken says he had his driver drop him off at 30 Rock and then Elvis Costello is like "I saw you get off a subway" and Aiken cattily replies "What were you doing down there?"

I would have loved to see Clay Aiken and Elvis Costello get in a fight... that would have been hilarious!